Photo #1 Bob Bunker, Co-Pilot, James Badley Survivor, Herb Kalen Aircraft Commander, William Carroll Flight Engineer, Donald Claudius Pararescue Specialist, in the door
Photo #2 Herb Kalen & Bob Bunker greeted by Lt Col Caughron, Squadron Commander
Photos from Charles Wells Collection. The photo was taken by his father Lt Col Joe Wells at Da Nang RVN 20 November 1968 after pick-p of Lt Badley.
This rescue took place on a beach area in North Viet Nam. The following is from Lt Badley’s web site
“On 20 November 1967 while flying his 25th mission in North Vietnam, Lt. Badley's aircraft (an F-4) was shot down and he was forced to bail out. He remained calm under the pressure of intense small arms fire and vectored the rescue helicopter to his position within seconds of Viet Cong capture. For his heroic actions, he received the Silver Star for Gallantry and the Air Medal for Meritorious Achievement.”
Herb and crew were returning from an orbit mission over the Gulf of Tonkin when an F-4 was shot down in North Viet Nam near their position. They proceeded to the area making radio contact with the downed pilot Lt James Badley. He was located inland a few hundred yards from the shore in a sandy area covered with low shrubbery. Lt Badley vectored them to his general location. They asked him to pop smoke, which he did. Herb flew to the smoke and landed. The crew could not see Lt Badley. They finally sighted him some distance away when he jumped out from behind a bush and waved at them. The crew motioned for him to come to them but he jumped back behind the bush. Herb picked up the helicopter and hovered over to Lt Badley’s position where he was taken aboard the helicopter. They safely egressed the area proceeding out to the Gulf of Tonkin and returned to Da Nang RVN. Lt Badley was asked why he left the area of the smoke. He said when he popped smoke, he started receiving small arms fire so he ran away from that area and hid where they finally picked him up.
On his 85th mission, on 27 March 1968, Lt Bradley was shot down and listed as MIA. He was officially declared Killed in Action (KIA) on 8 May 1968.
Lt Badley was a F-4 back seater. The front seater status was unknown. A chute had not been by anyone in the area. I had been on an orbit mission over the Gulf of Tonkin and had arrived in the area just after Herb and crew had completed the pick-up. We found aircraft debris a few hundred yards off shore. We scanned the area and landed in the water near a deflated life raft among the debris. The pilot would have the raft hooked to him during ejection. We were not able to see any sign of a parachute or any other sign that the F-4 front seater had been able to eject. We continued to search and we came under small arms fire from the shore. We departed the area. We were confident that we would have seen the pilot if he had been able to get out of the aircraft.
Additionally, I have written an article for the USAF Museum Friends Journal that will be published later this month. The subject is about my first combat mission. It was one of my checkout missions required before I took over as commander on my own. Often these flights only involved going to Quang Tri to stand alert or go on an orbit mission over the Gulf of Tonkin. Herb was the instructor for this mission. It turned out we would end up in North Viet Nam. We were the” High Bird”, (the cover aircraft for the pick-up helicopter). Initially our team (High & Low Bird (pick-up helicopter) were just to be back-up for another team. Due to battle damage on the other team, we were thrust into the fray. Our Low Bird completed the pick-up without a problem and we went to Quang Tri and spent the rest of the day on alert. I will send you a copy of that article after it is published.